A Study in Satin

by Tigger

 

Part III: Dum Vivimus Vivamus!

Chapter 8: A Day Alone

 

Katrina had returned from her errand with a foul smelling and worse tasting herbal concoction guaranteed to ease the most trying of "female complaints". That alone was enough to put Sherla's back up, as she considered her condition to be far worse than a mere "complaint," whereupon Katrina pointed out that Sherla had done little else since their night had been so rudely interrupted.

Later, Sherla would admit that it was not the packaging of the retail product that bothered her so much as where it came from and what ingredients had gone into the making of it. "Just LOOK what happened to me the last time I took something provided by a CHEMIST made from HERBS!" she had snarled when Katrina had taken her task for being so silly.

Katrina had just looked at her, just stood there for what had seemed like minutes before slamming the bottle down on the table next to Sherla. "What happened to you? You became a BEAUTIFUL woman who is young and alive instead of a bitter old man trying to die!" she'd shouted. "You became MY lover and although I do LOVE you, right at this moment, I do not think I like you all that much . . . . BITCH!"

Sherla watched in open mouth astonishment as Katrina fled from the room. *Oh dear lord, I made her cry!* Struggling to her feet, and exerting every bit of her will to prevent her stomach from emptying what little she'd managed to get down, she tried to hurry after her love.

She found the girl in Irene's room, face down on the older woman's bed, crying.

Carefully, she settled herself down beside Katrina and began to stroke the dark hair they'd normally kept hidden beneath Karl's cap of late. "I am so sorry, my love. I had promised myself that I would not take my misery out on anyone, and especially you. I am so sorry. You were right, I am a bitch."

"Yes you were. ARE!" Katrina's voice was muffled by the large feather pillow she was using to hide her face. Then she sighed and rolled to face Sherla. "But it is not all your fault. I fear that you are not the only one of us who is now. . . .expressing her most basic femininity."

"You, too?" Sherla's voice broke, "And you went outside to get that potion? For me? How could you stand to move?!?"

A resigned smile crossed Katrina's face as she heard the awed respect and wonder in Sherla's tones. "I could let you feel really guilty about it, or consider me the brave loving heroine, fighting with her last ounce of strength for her beloved's needs, but I won't. In truth, my dear, most of us do not suffer as you are during this time of the month - at least once we are used to it. The first ones are often the roughest because we have nothing to gauge them by. So, I really wasn't being all that brave and self sacrificing."

"I will try to be better about it," Sherla promised.

"I am sorry for yelling at you. Even if the discomfort is more manageable for me, this time of the month does put my emotions very close to the surface and definitely sharpens my temper. Tante Irene has been known to give me the day off during my first days." Katrina added with a mischievous grin.

"Friends?" Sherla asked hopefully.

"And lovers," Katrina replied, lifting up to kiss Sherla.

"Well, at least now there are TWO of us to try that potion you brought back from the chemist." Sherla managed brightly.

"But YOU go first!" Katrina put in quickly.

"No, you go first!"

"You!"

"No, YOU!"

~----------------~

They took the potion together, almost as if they were two drinking friends offering each other a toast. It was several minutes before they could unscrew their faces from the bitterness of the brew.

Surprisingly, the potion actually worked, a happy result which Sherla would later attribute more to the fact that the basis of the effusion was nearly pure alcohol than to the "specially selected and prepared healthful herbs".

~------------------~

Katrina, as Karl, had gone to meet Erich after school when Irene finally returned from her own outing. She walked into the suite's sitting room removing her hat pins and doffing her heavy bonnet. "Ah, so you are done writhing and complaining in your bed, are you?" She said when she saw Sherla sitting in one of the chairs by the fire.

"Oh, I am jussss wonnnerful," Sherla slurred.

"What is the MATTER with you??" Irene demanded as she dropped her gloves and hurried over to the grinning Sherla.

"Not a thing!" She was assured cheekily. "That po. . potion Katrina got me is almost all spirits. Strong. I . . think. .. I may have had a bit too much of it. My. .my poor," a hiccup broke Sherla's stream of words, "tolerance for the stuff, you know."

"I see," Irene smiled in her relief. "Although I suspect that you will regret feeling quite so wonderful in the morning."

Sherla gave an exaggerated nod of her head. "I know, but it is too late now to rect. .to rect. . to fix it. So. . what did you learn?"

"Are you sure you will remember it in the morning?" Irene asked, seating herself opposite the inebriated young woman.

"Don't know, but might as well try. . .unless you are having . . . YOUR complaint, too. Might . . as well make it a full party! Then YOU can drink some of that. . .potion."

Irene chuckled. "So, I must infer that Katrina is also having her monthly?" Her only answer was another very exaggerated head nod. "I see. Well, I am not so I will have some wine instead." Irene got up to pour herself a glass from the decanter provided by Herr Schmidt. Savoring a rather large sip of the warming libation, she turned to Sherla and said, "Very well, then, oh Great Detective. I will make my report. I managed to find something not to like about all the properties Herr Kreuger had arranged to show me. I am afraid, however, that he is more convinced than ever that we are looking for a site for a bordello. He all but propositioned me as we were coming back to the hotel. I suspect we may have to move on to Meringen more sooner than later if he becomes a nuisance."

"Sorry," Sherla responded with a broad giddy smile on her face.

"And so you should be!" Irene retorted before relenting. "You did as you thought we wanted. You have not sufficient practice at being a woman to have learned subtlety. In any case, he is going to start looking farther afield which may ultimately get us closer to Rosenlaui."

"That's wonderful," Sherla chirped happily. "I just KNEW you were the right woman for the job when I thought I was dying."

"So glad to be of service, Miss Holmes," Irene retorted. "So, will you be joining us for dinner? Frau Schmidt is making a lovely lamb dish as the main course."

Even through the alcohol fumes, Sherla's body reacted to the idea of solid food as it had all day. "I will take that as a 'no'," Irene chuckled as she watched Sherla hurry toward the water closet.

~----------------~

When Irene and Karl/Katrina rejoined Sherla after dinner, she was more sober if less comfortable. "A better compromise, I think," she told Irene. "So, Katrina-dear, what have you learned today for young Erich?"

"Not all that much, I am afraid," Katrina replied as she started to seat herself, barely remembering to sprawl boyishly instead of sitting daintily. "Erich had an extra chore today and likely for the next few days. Seems someone has ordered some animals, but the tracks to Meringen were damaged in the storm so they have to be held here until they can be delivered, and Erich's father has put their care and feeding in Erich's hands."

"Surely that is not such an onerous and time consuming task," Sherla challenged, wanting her friend to be advancing their investigations.

"Now, don't you go bitchy on me again, Sherla," Katrina warned sternly, pleased to see her friend flush in embarrassment. Irene hid a smile behind her hand and remained silent. This was between the two of them. "Besides, you don't know how many of them there are. Fifty of one kind and two dozen of the other kind. That is a great deal of cages to clean and bowls to fill at feeding time. I helped so that I could remain in Erich's good graces once the animals have been sent on. Interesting beasts," she added, "I have never seen any up close before."

"Oh," Irene inquired, "What kind of animals?"

"Monkeys," Katrina said. "And the others are like monkeys, only bigger with no tails."

"Chimpanzees?" Sherla said, her voice suddenly flat.

"Why yes, that is what Erich called them. How did you know?"

"Because we have just been given our second major clue. I hope you like helping Erich with those animals, my dear, because I want you with them as much as possible."

~----------------~

Moriarty knew the man was there, waiting on the other side of the desk to be acknowledged, but he kept his head down focused on the sheaf of papers in front of him. In truth, there was nothing there he was actually studying and could have looked up to take the man's report at any time, but it was in such subtle ways a man exercised power over his minions and other inferiors. By showing them that what he did was more important than what they did, Moriarty reinforced the line that separated him from the rest of humanity.

Finally he pushed aside the meaningless paper and, putting an impatient look upon his face, stared at the man. "Yes?" he said in a demanding, clipped tone.

"Sa'ar," the man began, "Carver sent ye a message," he said, nearly stuttering. At the last moment, he remembered he held the paper in his hand and thrust it away from him toward Moriarty.

With deliberate and obvious care that he not actually touch the messenger's hand, Moriarty accepted the paper. "You may wait outside. If I have a reply I will have it brought to you." he said by way of dismissal.

The Professor broke the sealing wax and opened the heavy parchment page.

Professor Moriarty,

The tracks to Brienz wuz broke by the blizard. Station Master don't think they will be fixed afore next week.

Meantimes, a cable arrived at the station today saying that our monkys and chimps has gotten as far as Brienz.

Brienz being only 8 miles or so as the gul flys, I am going to drive the slay down there to pick up wot I can.

Won't be able to cary the lot of them, so I am asking you which to bring you now, in case you have speshal needs for some of them.

Carver

Aside from his henchman's abysmal spelling and grammar, Moriarty was well pleased. Carver was good man. Did what he was told, but knew when he did not know what to do. Moriarty made some quick calculations concerning the carrying capacity of the sleigh. Filled to capacity, the sleigh might manage to hold eight or so of the chimpanzees and a small number of the littler beasts. Unfortunately, these were warm weather animals, so he would lower his estimate to allow for blankets and canvas covering to keep the primates warm, dry and out of the wind on the long sleigh ride back. It was nearly four kilometers to Rosenlaui and another twelve kilometers to Brienz. They would be several hours out in the elements.

Moriarty picked up his pen and began to write his response to Carver. Almost halfway through the note, he looked again at Carver's own missive. It was crudely done, using large, childish block lettering. Moriarty wadded up his first attempt and threw it into the fire. Carver was a good underling, but he'd never understand the Professor's own elegant cursive script, or the words that Moriarty would use with someone who was better educated. More carefully this time, Moriarty began his response anew, this time printing instead of writing, and ensuring that he used short, easily read and understood words.

It took several tries before the Professor was satisfied with his message, for he found it exceedingly difficult to force his incomparable brain to communicate on such a crude and unsophisticated level. Finally, he rang for his secretary and told him to summon the messenger. He had a task for the man.

Soon, the experiments that were showing such promise with the shorter-lived African monkeys would be tried on the much longer living chimpanzees. If all went well, why, they might have a working solution in another month or so.

And of course, Professor Moriarty would personally SEE that things continued to go well.

~---------------~

Date: March 16, 1911

Entry in the Journal of Miss Sherla Joan Holmes

Location: The Brienz Hotel, Brienz, Switzerland.

Time: 1:19 A.M.

My Dear Doctor Watson:

I cannot sleep. Between my mind churning and my stomach churning, I have elected to get up and sit so that I do not disturb Katrina. She is also suffering from her monthly, but at least she can sleep. In truth, I must say I feel somewhat better - something on the order of a limp, tattered rag as opposed to a tattered rag being wrung out. Rather sad when feeling bad is an improvement, eh old friend? I have just taken another, smaller dose of that alcoholic tonic. I have hopes that it will be efficacious without being debilitating this time. At least, by being awake, I lessen the likelihood of a hangover from that abominable tasting brew. Next time, I believe I shall simply try an excellent brandy or a well blended cognac since I think the herbs have little to do with the effectiveness of this particular preparation. I shall do an experiment and let you know.

All in all, this has been a rather forceful reminder of what has changed for me in the past two months, John. It is rather hard to forget one is a woman when your entire body is working so diligently to make that fact painfully obvious. I never had this problem as Sherlock.

But then again, I can all but hear you saying, there were many other things I did not have as Sherlock. True enough. The fact is, I don't know if I really care if Moriarty truly has an antidote for this or not. Yes, John, even as I sit here in my current condition, I am not sure. Sherlock is still a significant part of me, and he would never make such a decision irrationally and in a fit of pique. Nor will I permit two or three days of discomfort to completely overshadow the greater logical picture.

We are coming very close now, John. The only reason I know of for such a large shipment of primates as Katrina uncovered today is research. Specifically, human research, although, I am unsure why they would want the chimpanzees. Most journal articles I have read use the smaller, cheaper monkeys. One gets more generations per year out such animals if you are looking at genetics, and not insignificantly, they are less costly than their larger cousins.

Of course, money is not likely to be an object to the Professor. I wonder if the fact that the chimpanzees are longer-lived than the monkeys might not be the reason for their inclusion in the shipment. That consideration plus their size makes them seem somewhat more similar to homo sapiens than the smaller animals. Do I infer from this that Moriarty is getting ready to test an improved version of his damnable potion? Can I ignore it?

The second answer is simple - No, I cannot. Katrina will have to be very vigilant over the next few days in case someone calls for the animals. If not, we will have to move our base of operations to Meringen when the tracks reopen and they are shipped there to await pickup.

I must speak with Irene and Katrina in the morning. We are getting closer to Moriarty which means the game becomes more dangerous as well. I must impress upon them the need for greater self security over the next few days.

I do not think I should want to live were I to lose either of them.

End Journal Entry.

 

 

 

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